Lawsuit against Victoria's Secret over 'call-in' scheduling practices settled for $12 million

Monday

Jun 12, 2017 at 3:41 PMJun 12, 2017 at 3:41 PM

Tim Feran The Columbus Dispatch @timferan

Victoria's Secret settled a class-action suit in California last week, agreeing to pay $12 million to workers who alleged that the Columbus-based retailer's policy of "call-in" shifts cheated them out of pay.

The suit was settled before it went to trial in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California.

According to court filings, sales clerks said that Victoria's Secret had required them to adhere to two scheduling policies.

One was traditionally scheduled shifts, which required them to physically appear at their store at the scheduled time. The other involved call-in shifts, which workers said required them to call their manager about two hours before the shift to find out whether they were needed that day.

Making contact for the call-in shifts was alleged to be mandatory. The employees said in the suit that they were subject to discipline if they failed to call in, were late getting to the store after being told to come in, or were otherwise unavailable to work a call-in shift when directed to do so.

In July 2015, less than a year after the lawsuit was filed, Victoria's Secret ended its use of the call-in shift entirely.

Unless they opt to refuse a portion of the $12 million settlement, the thousands of sales clerks who were part of the class action will receive a check.

Columbus-based L Brands, which owns Victoria's Secret, did not respond to requests for comment.